On the first day of school for Bangor students, a group of fifth graders wandered around outside the building searching for their teacher, unsure who they should be looking for.
Most students in Fairmount School had met their teachers the week prior during an open house and found them easily on Tuesday morning. But this class wasn’t given any information on when they’d have a permanent teacher or who their substitute teacher would be.
“It was unimaginable and exactly what I was afraid of,” Kelley Strout, the parent of a Fairmount fifth grader, said regarding the dropoff process on Tuesday. “You can’t redo the first day of school. It’s a huge moment for kids.”
The chaotic morning was the culmination of weeks of parents receiving incomplete information from administrators after repeatedly asking who would be teaching their children following the previous teacher’s departure.
While they were aware the original teacher would not be available, when parents asked for the name of the students’ new teacher — or even who would be greeting their children on the first day of school — they weren’t given an answer.
The lack of communication in the weeks leading up to the first day of school, parents said, broke their trust in the superintendent, Marie Robinson, and Fairmount School Principal Jeanette Quirk, both of whom are beginning their first year in the Bangor School Department.
It also “sets a troubling tone for how this new administration will handle difficult situations and conversations going forward,” said Erica Caron, parent of a Fairmount fifth grader.
The communication troubles began when the school department needed to hire two teaching positions at Fairmount School — one fourth grade and one fifth grade — that opened in late August, according to Ray Phinney, a spokesperson for the Bangor School Department.
The fourth grade teaching slot became available when the previous teacher took on another role in the department. Administrators have hired a new fourth grade teacher, Phinney said, but the person must complete their contractual obligations at their previous school before they start at Fairmount next Monday.
That teacher was available at an Aug. 29 open house to meet students and their families, Phinney said.
Meanwhile, the fifth grade position opened when the previous teacher decided not to return to work after having a child last spring. The class had a long-term substitute from April 2024 through the remainder of the school year.
Administrators found a candidate who accepted the fifth grade teaching position after a final interview with Robinson on Wednesday, which Quirk announced in an email to parents. School committee members will be asked to approve the hire in their meeting next week, Phinney said.
The new teacher will start Sept. 19, Quirk told parents on Wednesday.
In the meantime, the department can’t reveal the name of the teacher until the hire has been finalized, according to Phinney.
“I can’t violate confidentiality to tell [parents] who it is,” Phinney said. “We try to communicate with parents as much as we can, but sometimes there are things we can’t tell them.”
On Monday, the day before the first day of school, the Fairmount School principal sent an email to parents of the fourth and fifth grade students informing them that substitutes would be available the next day.
“We’re never going to put kids in a classroom without an adult,” Phinney said.
However, the names of the substitute teachers weren’t given to families before the first day of school, leaving parents frustrated.
Fifth grade families were given the name of their children’s substitute teacher Tuesday evening, after classes were over.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me why information was withheld,” Strout said. “Better communication, I believe, could have prevented what happened on the first day of school.”
Parents of five Fairmount fifth graders met with Robinson and Quirk on Tuesday evening to voice their concerns, get an explanation for the miscommunication and work toward a solution.
Caron said she felt both parties understood each other better after the meeting, but parents remain focused on the department hiring a permanent teacher for their children.
“This isn’t an easy situation for parents as our kids get one chance at an education, and not easy for administrators to navigate under pressure either,” Caron said.
Robinson sent an email to those parents on Wednesday morning apologizing for the lack of communication “that led to unnecessary stress and confusion for all of you and your children.”
“I fully acknowledge that the situation could and should have been handled differently,” Robinson wrote in the email.
Moving forward, parents agreed more consistent communication is necessary to rebuild their trust in the school and department administration.
In the eight years Strout has had a child in Bangor schools, she said she has always received “prompt, honest and transparent” answers from administrators when she has a question or concern. That’s why receiving little or unclear answers to her questions in recent weeks was “shocking and extremely unsettling.”
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in the Bangor School Department,” Strout said. “I’m entrusting these people with the care of my child.”
